Ganja & Hess

Ganja & Hess (1973) is written and directed by Bill Gunn, who also appears in the film. It is hailed in academic circles as a bona fide cult classic and a culturally important Black-produced film. Marlene Clark and Duane Jones star as the aforementioned Ganja and Hess. Jones was famous for his man of action lead role in Romero’s groundbreaking Night of the Living Dead.

The plot concerns Dr Hess Green, who is stabbed with a Myrthian ceremonial dagger by his unstable assistant George Meda (Gunn). Meda shoots himself dead after stabbing Hess, but the good doctor finds himself not only alive but able to enjoy eternal life. There is a downside: he needs human blood to live. Meda’s wife enters the film and soon learns that George is dead and Hess is, in all respects, a vampire. That doesn’t stop her marrying Hess and becoming the same as him.

Gunn doesn’t so much direct as seem to point the camera and shoot whatever is happening in front of it. It is so laboured and slow that the film takes on a hazy, dreamlike texture. It’s as if Jean Rollin had upped sticks and moved to the States to direct a blaxploitation film.

The scenes in the church with the Baptist congregation do add a brief upbeat to a very downbeat 113 minutes. The use of blues, gospel and soul is a welcome musical brush to colour the monotony. It may be a classic but I will not be returning, even if I live for eternity.

Gallery

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Trailer

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From the score

• Sam Waymon – Blood of the Thing (Part 1)

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• Sam Waymon – You Got to Learn to Let It Go

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Filed 18 October 2026 by Darren Evanson.